A young mother spoke today of how she and her two-day-old baby contracted the MRSA superbug.

Priscilla Peart, 20, and her daughter Soshone both caught the bug after a difficult birth at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, nine weeks ago.

The baby was one of three in the 13-cot special care baby unit who developed MRSA.

The other two babies had been transferred to the Queen Elizabeth from another, unnamed, hospital. All three infants were isolated.

Mrs Peart also developed the superbug, and mother and daughter were confined to the hospital for several weeks' treatment with antibiotics. Mrs Peart suffered fevers and was vomiting, and all the while was concerned for her baby, who was already sedated from her life-saving operation.

Back home in Teams, Gateshead, Mrs Peart said today: ''She was already sedated so it was hard to tell that Soshone had MRSA. ''She had a fever but normally you would be able to tell she was groggy (as well).

''We are fine now, and have had the all-clear, but it was very worrying at the time.

''The hospital staff did everything they could to make sure we were both OK and that nobody else was affected.

''I don't know how it spread to us. Infections get spread around, unfortunately.''

This was the first MRSA outbreak in the hospital's special care baby unit and the cases came to light when one of the incoming babies was screened.

A spokesman for Gateshead NHS Trust said: ''The Trust has in place robust systems to identify and isolate infections. ''This is demonstrated by the way in which this case was handled.

''We'd like to stress to families that the unit offers a safe, caring environment.''